Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to salute a young lady from my district Teresa Staerk who was a very special person and for me a role model. She died suddenly and tragically at 41 this past Saturday. She had great courage and strength. Her honesty and forthright manner were a model for others, her loyalty and generosity, her skill and desire to overcome her own disability to reach out to others in need. She was wheelchair bound, but she did not think of herself as having a disability. She worked for those who were disabled, and she was the pioneer in Pennsylvania for making sure that we had opportunities for transportation and mass transit for those who were in wheelchairs permanently. She worked on making sure that at our train stations we had ramps, that we had bridge plates to get individuals from the ramp into the train. She worked to make sure that our transit systems had chair lifts for especially equipped buses so those who wanted to maintain their mobility and independence could do so. She testified to our State capital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to make sure that she was a strong voice for others who could not speak or were not as committed or did not really have the will that she had. She was a very special person. Then she came to Washington do the same thing, to speak out on transit opportunities for the disabled. She helped everyone, and she really was a trailblazer.”